C CMay 8, 2026 06:28 PM (This post was last modified: May 8, 2026 06:30 PM by C C.)
This is what Farage prematurely crowed about early in the vote counting. Maybe it was not quite that degree of Earth shift in the end, but was still massively devastating for Labour. Starmer is absolutely going to be replaced, and Labour is predictably misdiagnosing what the problem is and will return to its hard left roots.
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EXCERPTS: Nigel Farage is celebrating a 'historic change' in politics after Reform UK gains a swathe of council seats across the country after the 2026 local elections.
[...] As of around 3:30am on Friday, May 8, full results were in from 13 of the 136 councils. Reform UK had gained 103 seats, with Labour losing 80. The Conservatives had lost 11 seats, independents 22 and Your Party one, with the Greens gaining eight and the Liberal Democrats three.
[...] A jubilant Reform UK leader Nigel Farage told reporters at the party’s Millbank headquarters: “I think what you’re witnessing is an historic change in British politics. Forget left-right, there is no more left-right. It is gone, it is out of the window, it’s finished. As you can see, we are scoring stunning percentages in traditional old Labour areas. We’re currently averaging about 39% of the vote, of the seats that are in already, we’re currently on 145 seats won. We are way exceeding anything that I thought.” Starmer told to go after disastrous election results https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/...ll-starmer
EXCERPTS: Quit now or Labour will die, Sir Keir Starmer was told by his own MPs today as disastrous local election results rolled in from across Britain. Leading figures on the left called for swift change in Downing Street as Labour lost votes in all directions after two years of failed government with hundreds of council seats falling to Reform, the Greens and even the Tories.
Labour was on course to lose around 1,300 seats and control of dozens of councils, as well as being crushed in the Welsh Senedd and Scottish parliament elections. Vote-counting continues tomorrow in many areas.
[...] The biggest winner was the hard-right Reform UK, which had gained nearly 900 seats by early evening. Leader-owner Nigel Farage said the results showed his party could win in Tory and Labour areas alike and was on course for government.
“What has happened is a truly historic shift in British politics,” he said. However, polling expert Peter Kellner said that Reform had underperformed as against last year and that its support had “peaked.”
With around half results declared, Labour had lost 672 seats and the Tories 423, with the Greens gaining 175.
To avert the Farage menace, trade union leaders and Labour MPs were exploring ways to prise Sir Keir out of office, with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham favoured to take over — a process that would take months at least since he is not presently an MP and thus unavailable.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband and a number of MPs on the party’s “soft left” are pushing for the Prime Minister to set a timetable for departing.
One such told the New Statesman: “Rejected by the public. Increasingly rejected by his own party. If Keir truly listens to these results he will set out a date for his departure. If he doesn’t, he’ll go down in history as the man whose hubris killed the Labour Party.”
Another warned that “the party has been dominated by a small clique who have brought us to the edge of extinction.”
Reform won no local government seats in the last election since they are a new party. So almost all of their wins in this election are new gains. They seem to have taken votes away from Labour, who are being abandoned by their traditional working-class base. And they are also taking traditional social-conservative and anti-mass-migration voters away from the Conservatives.
Labour lost about 60% of the seats they won in the last election. They are bleeding from both the right and the left.
The Tories lost about 40% of their seats and are also bleeding from the right and the left.
The Liberal Democrats made small gains, mostly from establishment-loving Conservative defectors I'm guessing, the British equivalent of American RINOs.
And the Greens made large gains, quadrupling the number of seats they held last time, but still only managing to come in fifth. They are becoming Britain's new defacto left wing party and I'm guessing that most of their gains were from Labour's more radical and stylish left-activist London base, along with many Muslims. The Greens are to England what Commie Mamdani is to the US.
One of the main things that is missed by the Councillor elections is the fact that a number of the councils were about to move through a Devolution plan where the borders where being torn up and redrawn. In essence a number of councils would be merged and had been planned to be merged, but it caused controversy thanks to Reform complaining that elections were not taking place for councillors. The main reason is because once devolution sets in, a number of the councillors would lose their positions anyway require another vote. (It didn't make much sense to vote a bunch in just to get turfed out in the near future)
Most of the Votes for Reform were like a "Troll" vote, where a person or party is picked by people to annoy, harrass and otherwise undermine a system that people feel is broken rather than actually picking the best people for the job. It's what was done originally to oust the Conservatives by Labour, and it will likely be done to Reform should they actually manage to get in during a future actual election.
Nothing mentioned about Lowe, while he didn't set his sights too high (considering he was standing as an independent) he did manage to do what he planned and gained a majority of the town he stands for.
(May 8, 2026 10:33 PM)Syne Wrote: Sounds like someone is an establishment shill who is out of touch with those who actually voted Reform.
Sounds to me like a foreigner that has shit to say about something they don't understand. ---
My local county most of the positions they gained were rural and likely directly effected by their involvement in marching Farmers to Parliament. (Along with the Brainwashing of GBNews broadcast on both TV and Radio, which is no different than a communist state.)
Quote:But the bigger hurdle will be the number of parties willing to form a coalitional government with Labour.
That won't really be on the cards for two years. The actual threat that Starmer faces is down to the loyality of his own party in regards to their losses.
SyneMay 9, 2026 10:54 AM (This post was last modified: May 9, 2026 10:55 AM by Syne.)
(May 9, 2026 10:15 AM)stryder Wrote:
(May 8, 2026 10:33 PM)Syne Wrote: Sounds like someone is an establishment shill who is out of touch with those who actually voted Reform.
Sounds to me like a foreigner that has shit to say about something they don't understand. ---
You do it all the time for US politics. @_@
Quote:My local county most of the positions they gained were rural and likely directly effected by their involvement in marching Farmers to Parliament.
Sounds like some people don't feel represented. You know what happened last time. 9_9
Quote:(Along with the Brainwashing of GBNews broadcast on both TV and Radio, which is no different than a communist state.)
Yet it's the BBC that is state funded and run (and makes you sound more like an establishment shill).
Quote:
Quote:But the bigger hurdle will be the number of parties willing to form a coalitional government with Labour.
That won't really be on the cards for two years. The actual threat that Starmer faces is down to the loyality of his own party in regards to their losses.
Sounds more likely they'll keep Starmer, with the albatross around his neck, rather than pass the buck. Not like they have any replacement candidates with any better plans. They might not want to burn someone who might be a contender later. That makes two years out the next best chance for any positive change.
INTRO: Catherine West, the former minister who is launching a stalking-horse campaign to try to force Sir Keir Starmer out of office, does not know who she wants as prime minister. She just wants a change.
This is no way to carry out the serious business of deciding who should lead the nation. “I don’t have a candidate, and that’s part of the problem,” she told the BBC. Her way of resolving that problem is to issue an ultimatum to the cabinet, demanding that its members choose one of their number to replace Sir Keir - or she will try to trigger a leadership election on Monday by gathering the nominations of 80 fellow Labour MPs.
Ms West’s assault on the prime minister may fizzle out if she cannot secure the support needed, or it may succeed in forcing other more credible candidates to put themselves forward. Either way, it seems reckless to go ahead with a venture of this kind without having an alternative prime minister in mind. Keir Starmer: I want 10 years in No 10 and will fight my challengers https://observer.co.uk/news/politics/art...hallengers
EXCERPTS: Keir Starmer has said he wants a decade in Downing Street and will fight anyone who challenges him for the Labour leadership. The prime minister described his government as a “10-year project of renewal”. Asked whether he would definitely lead his party into the next general election and serve a full second term, he said: “Yes, I will.”
In an interview with The Observer, he promised to set out “with clarity” his values and convictions with an optimistic message focused on the future.
After historic losses at local, Welsh and Scottish elections, Starmer will this week seek to regain the initiative with a speech on Monday, followed by the unveiling of the government’s legislative programme in the king’s speech on Wednesday.
In his interview, Starmer also pledged to put Europe at the heart of his premiership. He revealed that the government is close to agreeing the terms of a youth mobility scheme with the European Union.
Under the plan, which is expected to be up and running by 2027, Britons under 30 will be able to live or work in the EU. Young Europeans will also be allowed to come to the UK, with the number capped at “tens of thousands” a year. The new “youth experience visa” is set to give 18 to 30-year-olds the right to base themselves abroad for two to three years.
Negotiations are continuing and the UK is still refusing to agree to EU demands that its students pay the same university tuition fees as domestic students, rather than the higher rate paid by foreign students. But the prime minister said a deal would be unveiled before the summer.
[...] The legislative programme is expected to include a proposed EU bill that would create a framework for a swift transfer of laws made in Brussels to the UK statute book. Reforms to special educational needs provision, an overhaul of the regulation of the water industry, plans to introduce a voluntary digital ID system and the legislation required to formally abolish NHS England are among the other measures to be introduced...
Could part of it be that folks want something a bit more exciting? From Starmer we get one sound nibble every 5 years. Difficult to approve or not approve of someone when you're not even sure if they're still alive. What to do with people arriving in small boats .. that isn't illegal, immoral or very very expensive? We're still good for money laundering though. Nobody's going to bomb London 'cos they've got nice houses there too .. safe as .. houses.
Farage is quite jolly .. in lounge lizard style .. you won't catch me saying anything bad about lounge lizards.
I am left with the overwhelming feeling that we are f'd.
INTRO: Keir Starmer vowed to prove his “doubters” wrong in a make-or-break speech on Monday morning. The prime minister warned of “very dangerous opponents”, alluding to insurgent political forces on the right and left, and pledged to embrace a closer relationship with Europe. Read Starmer’s speech in full... (MORE - the speech) Union boss says Starmer's speech 'Didn't cut the mustard' https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/e...-grid-unit
INTRO: The boss of a Labour-backing union has said Keir Starmer’s make-or-break speech did not “cut the mustard” and called for him to be replaced as prime minister. Sharon Graham, general secretary of Unite, told HuffPost UK that it would be the “death knell” for Labour if he led them into the next election.
Starmer has been criticised for the “utterly inadequate” speech, which was supposed to set out how he plans to turn around his party’s fortunes after last week’s disastrous election results. The PM confirmed the government is nationalising British Steel and vowed to put the UK “at the heart of Europe”, but failed to announce any major new policies... (MORE - details) Ruth Jones MP: ‘The Prime Minister must go’ https://caerphilly.observer/opinion/1058...mer-to-go/
EXCERPT (Ruth Jones): With this in mind, I am calling on the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for an orderly transition to a new leadership. As we rapidly approach council elections in 2027, the Labour Party needs to be clear on its messaging and demonstrate a plan as to how it can bring about positive change during these testing times.
The Prime Minister has done brilliant work in landing us a huge majority at the last election after years in opposition, and his reassuring presence on the international stage has been most welcomed during a time of instability across the globe.
It is with deep regret that we have reached this point, however we must listen to the people of Wales, and across the UK, who have categorically rejected our current plan and trajectory. In the coming contest I look forward to seeing a return to our core values as we seek to deliver meaningful change... (MORE - missing details)
May 8, 2026 06:28 PM
(This post was last modified: May 8, 2026 06:30 PM by C C.)
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